NH falls from the top 10 in the Vax rate, Dems blames Sununu. Are they right?

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At the start of the COVID-19 vaccine, New Hampshire had bragging rights at or near the top of the state rankings. When the problem was the ability to distribute a limited amount of vaccine, Granite State did very well.

But now that the coup is available in almost every drugstore and grocery store, the state’s reputation has fallen. New Hampshire is no longer in the top 10 for the percentage of the population that has been vaxxed. And of the six New England states, it ranks dead last.

What changed? Democrats blame Gov. Chris Sununu, even suggesting he put his television opportunity ahead of an effective vaccine strategy. But the data points to another culprit.

Demography.

The Centers for Disease Control recently ranked New Hampshire 14th in the country for the percentage of residents who have been vaccinated, dropping Granite State from the top 10 and placing it well behind other New England states that have been vaccinated. lead the country in terms of vaccination rates. .

In New Hampshire, 67.2% of the population has received at least one injection and 59.8% are fully vaccinated. According to the New York Times follow-up, this ranks the Granite State 15th in the country for a single injection and 11th for full vaccinations.

It didn’t take long for Democrats to blame Sununu for the drop in vaccine rankings.

The Sununu administration’s vaccination campaign is not working and it is alarming that our state is falling further and further behind as the Delta variant increases, said NHDP Chairman Ray Buckley. New Hampshire needs a plan to increase vaccinations now, and it’s clear Sununu doesn’t.

Sununu spokesman Ben Vihstadt points out that despite the drop, New Hampshire is still ahead of 39 other states when it comes to vaccine administration.

New Hampshire was and remains one of the leading states in administering vaccine doses, Vihstadt said.

Still, Democrats say, Sununu could have done more. He refused to follow the lead of states like Ohio running a million dollar lottery for the vaccinated, or places like Erie County, New York, where a microbrewery distributed free beer. Sununu openly rejected such efforts.

In Massachusetts and Vermont, two states with Republican governors, some form of vaccination warrants have been put in place for some healthcare workers and others who interact with vulnerable people. Sununu signed a law that prohibits government entities, such as school districts, from forcing the vaccine on employees.

Massachusetts reports 65% of its population with at least one injection and 71% with full immunity. Vermont has 86% of the population to receive at least one dose, and 76.9% of Vermonters are fully vaccinated – the highest number in the country.

Sununu is planning a new round of advertisements and public service announcements to publicize the vaccine, Vihstadt said, and mobile vaccine vans will begin to travel to communities across the state where the vaccine rate is below 50. %, although there is still no fun and games in store in exchange for the shot.

Democrats criticize the PSAs, primarily for the fact that they could feature Sununu, who they say will run in the Senate against Maggie Hassan. The state’s Executive Council recently approved more public service announcements to help promote vaccines, although Democratic Councilor Cinde Warmington voted against the campaign.

Whether or not Sununu appears in a vaccine ad campaign, there are different reasons New Hampshire residents do not get vaccinated. Although reluctance to vaccinate has evolved over the past few months, it is still a factor.

According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent center for global health research at the University of Washington, New Hampshire, at the start of the year, around 40% of those surveyed expressed some reluctance to seek advice. get vaccinated. This data captured the mood of the state when the vaccines were first introduced in January.

That hesitation fell to around 5 percent in most places, according to the study. But the percentage of unvaccinated Granite Staters remains around 30 percent. And the sad fact is, there might not be much that Governor Sununu or any other politician can do about it.

New Hampshire’s early performances were driven by demographics. The state is older, it is wealthy, and it is disproportionately educated in college. Members of these groups tended to flock for the chance to get the vaccine.

But there is also a segment of the population that is more rural and blue collar. And this group, along with black and Hispanic Americans, tend to be the most reluctant to get shot. The available research shows that there is not much that can be done to persuade them.

“People are complicated and their reasons for not getting vaccinated are personal,” says an MIT report on access to the unvaccinated. “Respect those reasons and you could have a more productive conversation. Several sources cite a report concluding that about 14% of adults are in no way susceptible to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Among white Americans, Republicans and Republican women in particular remain the greatest source of opposition to the vaccine. Among Democrats, about 86% of adults have been vaccinated, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, but only 52% of Republicans have. And New Hampshire is one of New England’s more Republican states.

And although their numbers are relatively low in New Hampshire, black and Hispanic Americans have the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

Black vaccination rates are below 50% in 38 of 42 reporting states, including seven states where less than a third of blacks have received one or more doses, ”according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Likewise, less than half of Hispanics have received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in 32 of 40 reporting states, including nine states where less than a third received at least one dose, according to a recent report.

COVID infections have had a disproportionate impact on minorities in New Hampshire, with Hispanics accounting for nearly 7.5% of all cases, despite making up less than 4% of the population. African Americans, who make up 1.4% of the population, account for 2% of infections. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services identified racial disparities last year and is working to address them, according to Vihstadt.

But how do you reach out to those who simply won’t get vaccinated? More TV commercials, with or without Sununu, are unlikely to make a significant difference.

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